By Andy Gammill
andy.gammill@indystar.com
At least six stories high -- tall enough to kick a field goal indoors -- the Super Bowl practice facility proposed for the Tech High School campus would tower over neighboring buildings and surrounding homes.
One of the three possible locations would put the facility flush up against the corner of Michigan and Oriental streets. Another would put it immediately west of two-story houses in Woodruff Place.
Just think of the late-afternoon shadow that would cast.
But Super Bowl planners are zeroing in on a third option, which they hope will have less impact on the neighborhood. That option would place the facility in the center of campus just south of the football field and at the current location of the baseball diamond. Still, the building will stand out.
"It will be an imposing structure on the campus, and that's why we need to be sensitive to how it's built," said Steve Young, facilities chief at Indianapolis Public Schools. "But we think that that can be done."
The neighbors are hopeful on that point, too, but they have expressed concerns. Besides the prospect of having such a building a few yards from the back of their homes, some wonder how it will fit into the historic Tech campus, where some buildings date to the Civil War.
The NFL requires that the city have two similar practice facilities when it hosts the Super Bowl in 2012. The Colts practice facility will serve as one, and the Super Bowl Host Committee plans to build the second at Tech and eventually turn it over to the school.
The overall feeling in the neighborhood is excitement about the attention to the Near Eastside and the potential of the building to be used by the community after the Super Bowl, said Tom Abeel, president of the Woodruff Place Civic League.
"It's a great thing for the community," he said. "Our main concern is that it blends in as much as possible with the historic fabric of not only our neighborhood but the Tech campus. Recently I drove out by Eagle Creek and looked at the current Colts facility. I thought, 'Oh, my God, that thing is huge.' "
Mark Miles, chairman of the Host Committee, said there are many options for the practice facility, including a temporary structure that is torn down after the game or a combination of a permanent structure and part that will go away.
All of the three proposed sites at Tech are still on the table, he said, and if they were to prove unworkable, the committee has backup options elsewhere.
He said the goal, though, is to leave a lasting structure that will benefit the community and the students in IPS, which has athletic facilities not on par with other nearby districts.
"It's an untenable situation," Miles said. "The IPS kids don't have nearly the same opportunities the kids in our suburban school districts do. If you compare their facilities to what's available to IPS kids, it's just wrong."
Additional Facts
» The cost: Organizers have suggested the practice facility at Tech could cost about $9 million, but that's little more than a guess.
» The location: Proposals include the southwest corner of campus near Michigan and Oriental streets; the far-east edge of campus near homes in Woodruff Place; or in the center of campus, the current location of the baseball field.
» The size: At more than 60 feet tall and potentially as wide as two football fields, the facility would tower over campus and the Near Eastside. The bell tower on campus is that tall, and so is an industrial building nearby on 10th Street.
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